About Eau Claire Wisconsin Food

Recipe Economics For Hard Times

2008-11-25T10:10:00.005-07:00

So will we all be eating boiled taters and bread due to America's economic downturn?

If they look like my wife's ham and taters then bring em on. At least the good eats just get better when times are tough in America, cause we all have a tendency to stay home a little more and put in some quality kitchen time. Local fresh food prices and deals can easily be had by the savvy coupon shopper and the rewards are DELICIOUS!

Local apple orchards, markets and farmers can keep your family eating like the rich and famous daily. I suspect many will give up the life of of fast food restaurants and dining out during our economic recession and turn to mom's homemade food of goodness and love, open 24 hrs with leftovers served nightly!

The kids make reservations at MOMS simply by calling and saying "when you gonna make your beef pepper steak and noodles again?" Soon I hope; then silence as they wait on the cellphone for the scheduled date to be given. I have to chuckle as I listen in intently hoping to add in my own "boy that sure would be good with some of your dutch apple pie"! Ha Dinner at moms is scheduled.

With the holiday season approaching the food recipe book gets pulled out and we are showered with moms favorites recipe's and Grandmas secret recipe's in all there yumminess at one time. Well gotta go for now seems I am drooling on the keyboard....

Till next time

Munchies

Amish Home Cooking and Hospitality

2008-01-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Hitch up the horses, and pile in the buggy...We are going out for some down home, Wisconsin style Amish Holiday Cooking! For us that means pile in the Ford F-150 and head out to Augusta, WI (about 30 minutes from Eau Claire) where several of our Amish neighbors live. Holiday time for the Amish is much more of a community devotional sharing time and despite the frigid Wisconsin air outside, warm greetings for all can be found within. Family gifts are handcrafted, homemade or hand me downs. Friends gifts are typically friendship and food which if you knew me, you would understand I am a connoisseur of both. This holiday season was no exception and it is always refreshing to visit with our simple neighbors although getting them a gift can be a challenge and requires some careful thought.

So we arrive and begin trading stories and another years worth of memories over some of the best homemade Blackberry pie I have ever tasted! I casually ask Mrs. Eicher for the recipe at which time she looks at me and says, "To you and your wife I will give my whole recipe library to share amongst your friends"; "To your lovely Child I will give the secret recipe of Preserving A Husband". and with a chuckle recited from memory:

How To Preserve A Husband
"Be careful of your selection; do not choose too young, and take only such men as have been reared in a good moral atmosphere. Some insist on keeping them in a pickle, while others keep them in hot water. This only makes them sour, hard, and sometimes bitter.
Even poor varieties may be made sweet, tender and good by garnishing them with patience, well sweetened with smiles, and flavored with kisses to taste; then wrap them in a mantel of charity, keep warm with a steady fire of domestic devotion and serve with peaches and cream.
When thus prepared they will keep for years."

The night ended far to soon and driving out of the driveway of that Amish farm seemed allot like a time machine warp from the early 1920's back into 2008. We have started sharing many of the free amish recipes with friends who seem to enjoy them as much as we do.

Free Recipe "Asparagus Clam Chowder" Yummy!

2007-12-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

Greetings and Salivatations from a snow buried Wisconsin! As the photo to the right shows we have started winter early here in Eau Claire. The 6 to 8 inches caught everyone in the north woods by total surprise. City and County workers in Eau Claire county deserve a big hand for the quick response and fast cleanup of streets and highways around town.
Ok with that said I do not have any great food news to report since the weather has left me trapped indoors for much of the time so, I dug out the recipe books and whipped up some old time winter favorites. Along with the snow came some subzero temperatures so some good hot soup sounded fairly appealing. My asparagus clam chowder now that just sounds warm and scrumptious...And it was! Here is the recipe:

1-1/2 cups asparagus cuts and tips, (1lb bundle Fresh)
1 medium potato, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 sprig parsley, chopped
1 can 6 oz. minced clams with juice
2 cups milk
3 Tbsp. butter

Season and cook potato's with asparagus and onion until tender. Add chopped clams and juice, simmer for 5 minutes. Add milk and butter, heat to just below boiling point and serve. You can substitute chopped baby scallops for clams for a different taste, I like to add both.

This really hit the spot after coming in from the subzero temps outdoors. For more delicious food recipes check out the Free Recipe Library. The Amish recipes here are old time favorites of mine but the free holiday recipes are delicious as well. Till next time happy holidays!

Holiday Food Season Insurance

2007-11-16T04:27:00.000-07:00

Greetings and Salivatations Fellow Food Munchers

With my favorite time of year quickly approaching, "FOOD SEASON" I find my self getting ready to feast hardily for about the next 1 1/2 months. The residual snacks will insure my food habit for up to a year. Let me explain, My Food Season will begin with Wisconsin deer hunting season, which I gave up several years back myself but friends and relatives keep me well supplied in venison brats, venison sausage and home made venison jerky. Typically for 20 or 30 bucks a year I will have insured a hearty supply of tasty wild game snacks until next food season.

Right smack in the middle of Wisconsin's deer season they parked Thanksgiving, Which I believe is responsible for 50% of the obesity in this country, and rightfully so. For food lovers it is a day to worship the finest of the Family recipe's, Honed to perfection after years and years of Moms kitchen training being passed from generation to generation to insure utter gourmet perfection. We are talking stuffing's, fruit salads, kicked up veggie dishes and desserts oh my. As if the total beauty of all this food in one place were not enough but our Family chefs have been trained to make mountains of food so no matter how much I indulge on Thanksgiving day I will be insured some gourmet frozen Thanksgiving dinners until next Food Season rolls around.

After all the Thanksgiving leftovers are properly packaged for safe storage for up to a year (which will be the subject of a future blog) and the turkey soup and turkey stew are all slurped up and all the blueberry pie is gone, usually about three to five days in our household, then another beautiful food orientated extravaganza begins. It starts slowly at first with plates of homemade cookies being brought home from the office and plates of brownies and wedding bells and containers of brittle and as the big food season finale gets closer and the holiday cheer begins to flow, so do even more goodies like nuts and dried fruits and it all finally brings us to the red carpet food event of the year, Christmas Day. Once again we are insured the recipe for grandma's ham is unchanged, and the neighbors sweet potato pie is as delicious as ever. At the end of this divine celebration of religion and food, Once again out come the freezer plates and each delectable dish is selectively added to the 4 compartment plates I use to insure maximum eatability throughout the coming new year. And at the end after the whole month long Food Season is over and I have enough goodies horded away to last me until next years season I sit back and think If only I would not of eaten santas cookies and drank his milk the night before Christmas I would of had room for that last piece of ham on Christmas day! Check out the eau claire food forums today!

Happy Holiday Munching!

A Wisconsin Style Pig Roast

2007-09-28T03:58:00.000-06:00

Greetings and Salivatations Fellow Food Freaks

Ever roasted a pig over a charcoal fire? we did this summer for one of our airsoft scenario games and it turned out to be a delicious feast. The whole process took about 10 hours for a 120lb pig and was actually much easier than I thought it would be. It took about 125 pounds of charcoal that we steadily added throughout the day to keep the cooking process steady. After completely wrapping and securing the pig to the rotisserie spit with chicken wire it was a matter of just keeping the charcoal going. We rented the pig roaster from A1 rentals in eau claire for about 50 bucks for the day and we had Gundersons meat market in Mondovi prepare the pig for cooking. The whole process was quite simple and the 60 or so airsoft players that partook in Operation Freefall seemed to really enjoy this Beast Feast.

In other Eau Claire food news I had a chance to eat at the LA Patio Restaurant just off London road. One of our friends and customers Texx suggested this was his favorite so we gave it a try. The service was quick and friendly and the food was hot and sizzling when brought to the table. My chili rellano, tamale and burrito plate was a scrumptious delite that filled me up almost to the "bellies gonna burst" point. They included some free nachos and salsa that were quite addicting as well. I was amazed at the size of the Large Margaritas and though I did not enjoy one this evening I will be back on a night that I feel like just having one cocktail as this baby is about a half gallon in size. Overall I would have to give this restaurant 8 munches out of a possible ten. I believe the city of Eau Claire has two La Patio mexican style restaurants, another is located down by the university on Water street. I have also visited the La Patio located in Marshfield, WI and the service, food and ambiance are delightfully similar. Well it is getting to be breakfast time and all this talk of food is creating this grumbling sound deep in my tummy. Add to that the fact that my wife is in the process of making chicken and wild rice soup and homemade Wisconsin bread for a get together with some friends tonight and the smells eminating from the kitchen are making my taste buds froth. I will end this blog with a secret kitchen tip of mine that always assures me good eats. Wait till the food is cooking well then tell the wife to head to the living room as the cat is eating the fish in the aquarium. You must act fast but once she leaves the kitchen I can sample in mass quanities all the munchies I want...At least until the kitchen police (wife) returns. Till next time keep on Munchin!!

Hot Lunch From Nelson's Cheese Factory Deli Store

2007-09-15T18:40:00.000-06:00

Greetings and Salivatations Fellow Food Munchers

Just about a block away from our little store and headquarters and most certainly within smelling distance is the Nelson Cheese Factory Deli Store. This little cheese shop features some gourmet cheese and sausage products from all over the world.

Wisconsin Gourmet Cheese, Sausage and more plus lots of Nelson's dairy fresh cheese. Very noteworthy are the hot deli style sandwiches made fresh to order. The rueben is a particular favorite of mine but the philly sometimes wins my appetite as well. If you come down to nelson's for lunch don't forget to stop in and say hi at the Fairchild Gift Company store. (Our Headquarters)

Just look for the Fortune Cookie Chinese Delivery Restaurant and Nelsons Cheese Factory is right next door. Try out the ice cream as well ( a double scoop of blueberry cheese cake ice cream) is my favorite munchie. Not to mention they have samples available all the time.

This litte factory deli shop is well worth the trip to try something a little different for lunch. The menu includes cold sandwiches and hot soups as well as some other munchies not mentioned here. Take home some fresh cheese curds as well as some pepper jack cheese for later. Cracker trays and sausage platters are also available and make great munching for parties or other food related events. I have even survived on meat and cheese platters for days at a time...but that is a longer story than this one.

Laboring Over Food on Labor Day

2007-09-04T08:01:00.000-06:00

Greeting and Salivatations Fellow Food Munchers.

Hope everyone had a great labor day weekend filled with camping, cookouts, swimming, boating and barbecueing. Here in Wisconsin, Labor Day is like the signal of winter coming and summer retreating for yet another year. Soon the barbecue grills will all be cleaned and packed away for the Wisconsin blizzards that are coming soon. But our Eau Claire restauranteers will still be serving up the munchies at our demand.For labor day we snatched up 14 of our closest friends and fellow gamers and headed to the Altoona Family Restaurant for a snack. Despite showing up with our large group unannounced we were seated almost immediately and treated very good. Our orders were taken promptly and our food was served quickly, hot and palatable. Talk about a never ending cup of coffee, I don't think it ever got less than half full before the waiter was there topping it off.The owner of the restaurant even came over to say hi. Some of the more famished in our group opted for pie but my 3 eggs 4 strips of bacon hash browns and 4 panacakes was all I needed to satisify my munchies for the moment. I have eaten at the Altoona Family Restaurant before and the service has always been the same great service I got today. I think next time we will try 30 people....

Eau Claire Wisconsin Food Blog

2007-08-28T07:32:00.000-06:00

Greetings and Salivatations fellow public munchers.

I have created this blog in a quest for better cyber food relations. Let me explain: Just last night I get home and decide "hhmmmmm think I will order up some delivery food. So right to google I go quick search for Eau Claire Wisconsin delivery food, lick my lips and press enter and behold the "pizza listings and more pizza listings". Well there was one chinese fast food listing but... welllll....not tonight. Ok well guess I will be having pizza from Jeff and Jims with some chicken drummies thrown in for good measure...oh and add one of those chicago joe 6" subs just in case I get the munchies later. About 35 hungry minutes later my courteous driver arrives and drops off my dinner. Have to say I was impressed with the hot sub and pizza but those hot wings slathered in barbecue sauce are the greatest hot munchies in the world.

Oops kinda let the thought of food take me off topic...My point was we need more online menus for restaurants in Eau Claire. Sometimes man cannot survive on pizza alone. Red lobster should be delivering and what about the Texas Roadhouse. How come I cannot order in a good steak and have it delivered right to my dinner table. I think we need more online printable restaurant coupons as well. This sometimes can be the deciding factor for me as to where I will be ordering from. Well we hope to bridge alot of these consumer online gaps with our new site Eau Claire Food.com here we will be posting sweet deal food coupons as we get them from restaurant owners in the Chippewa valley Wisconsin area.